Electric Shadow

Undoing the SAGA Saga

ComiXology CEO David Steinberger issues a clarification to yesterday's comic book industry controversy, but I don't see Apple as off the hook:

In the last 24 hours there has been a lot of chatter about Apple banning Saga #12 from our Comics App on the Apple App Store due to depictions of gay sex. This is simply not true, and we’d like to clarify.

As a partner of Apple, we have an obligation to respect its policies for apps and the books offered in apps.  Based on our understanding of those policies, we believed that Saga #12 could not be made available in our app, and so we did not release it today.

Counter to what John Gruber implies, that ComiXology is entirely at fault here is a grossly reductive way to look at this. Had ComiXology published this comic in their iOS app, and had Apple received a volume of content-based complaints, Apple could have pulled the entire app from the App Store, including in-app purchase ability for those still with it downloaded. I'm surprised that someone like John would gloss over this or forget it was possible, and indeed, has happened.

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Daily Grab 122: Framing, Color, and Contrast

I still can't get over Roger Deakins not having won a gold trophy that, in the grand scheme, only gives the owner as much satisfaction as said owner wishes it to give. One of the great modern era cinematographers, who has never been so much as spooked by the rise of new technology, techniques, or forms of moviemaking.

Will Forte: "There Will be Some Form" of "MacGruber 2"

Entertainment Weekly got a quote that lit the MacGruber-loving internet on fire today:

“We are going to make MacGruber 2 for sure,” he says. “Whether we have to do it with a video camera in our backyards – there will be some form of MacGruber 2.”

 

Forte says they had even discussed putting it on crowdfunding site Kickstarter — way before the Veronica Mars film raised its capital there. “Jorma [Taccone], the MacGruber director, he had the idea to do a Kickstarter like two years ago,” Forte laments. “He kept saying ‘We should do a Kickstarter’ and we were like ‘Yeah, maybe at some point.’ He’s always ahead of the curve. That’s the lesson you learn — always listen to Jorma.”

Apple Bans SAGA #12 from iOS, Or: No Gay Sex Please, We're Apple

The issue has been refused from in-app sale on "inappropriate content" grounds from all iOS apps: ComiXology, the Image Comics app, everything...except for iBooks. That's odd, and smells anti-competitive, since Apple sells an enormous pile of radically more graphic content in iBooks and iTunes.

This enraged tweet from Merlin Mann is a good indicator of where the fan base is at the moment. God, if he were a superhero he would kick some bureaucratic ass and quick.

iOS wasn't properly scaled from the outset to transform into its present state as an impossibly broad content delivery machine. Steve Jobs originally and forcefully pushed for only web apps in iOS (or was that spin?). With native apps and content, Apple becomes the judge, jury, and censor regarding acceptable content. As far ahead as they think in some areas, they actively ignore a lot until its a big enough problem to matter, to infuriating effect. If you don't make noise, they won't feel compelled to act. Send some emails to the not-hard-to-find executive team's inboxes if you don't like this. They do listen, but if there's no noise to be heard...

Have you not read Saga and think comics are a lousy place to find sci-fi? Be warned: the book is for adult eyes, and earlier issues are more graphic than the two measly panels that caused this little fracas. Listen to Merlin and I talk about the first six or so issues between ourselves and take some calls from some muy interesante listeners on The Comic Shack. Go ahead and subscribe. The show is back very, very soon.

I'm stuck on this Merlin-as-a-superhero thing, God knows why. I think there's something there. Hm.

Daily Grab 121: Bloodbath

As I expected, the new Evil Dead movie cleaned up this past weekend, slaying the competition rather handily. Typically, horror movies drop at least 50% on their second weekend. That may happen due to a combination of 42 and Scary Movie 5, but it'll really be something if it holds relatively strong.

This morning, Hollywood woke up with a new set of eyes with regard to star Jane Levy, who gets to play way outside the Suburgatory box (quite well, I might add), as well as director/writer team Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues.

Hot & Cold Branding: Facebook Home (The Commercial)

Since Facebook requires you to sign in to embed videos, here's an AdAge story where they have it embedded.

The ad is done by Wieden & Kenedy (W+K for short), who are generally pretty great at fun, spunky clips that entertain and engage (like the "Dance Pony Dance" one for Three.co.uk). This one reeks of a different kind of spunk.

Those "Like"-ing it on Facebook, I assume, are doing so as endorsement of their respective Facebook addictions, the fun music, or what they see as a cool new version of their timesink of choice. Everyone critical of it, like me, are mostly responding to how the advert actually highlights all of the most negative or annoying things about Facebook: the force-fed sensory overload, the head-in-the-phone syndrome, and the narcotic-like nature of being hooked on using it.

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Hot & Cold Branding: Ron Johnson Out, Predecessor Back at JCP

CNBC broke the news within the last hour. Plenty of people have speculated that this was going to happen for months and months.

If anything, not giving Johnson's reworking of the JC Penney a chance to work over time will end up being their next-biggest mistake to signaling that JCP really doesn't know what it's doing by re-hiring the guy who got them in bad shape in the first place. Their stock fluctuation in the short term, I suspect, will be indicative of the long-term trend.

The best things Johnson's overhaul brought to JC Penney were the streamlining of price structure (eliminating 70 different "Clearance" racks) and making checkout possible in less than 10 minutes. I started shopping there again. Maybe he belonged at Apple in the first place. I hear there's a job opening.

Everything old really isn't new again.

Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Richard Linklater's "School of Rock: The Musical"

"The Lord", as he's called on BBC singing competition shows I might have watched, says he's picked up the rights to translate School of Rock to the stage in one of the biggest no-brainers in licensed-from-a-movie musical history.

Are they going "jukebox" and keeping the actual covered songs plus the original music in the movie? If so, I don't know that they need many original tunes at all. I wonder whether they'll premiere it Stateside first or in the West End.

Oh shit, this means they're going to remake School of Rock, a movie less than 10 years old, sometime before or around its 15th birthday. Great.

Austin Gets Google Fiber Officially

Thank god. I can't wait to dump AT&T, and everyone else in town is happy to dump Time Warner. The oligopoly that has been in place among cable providers has gone on far too long, is bad for consumers and job creation.

Still, I don't want these pipes to live in the Google Data Mining Corp.'s hands permanently. I want internet access to be seen as a public utility just like water, sewer, and garbage disposal.

"Family Tree" Season 1 Trailer

Another HBO production that had some taste test teasers (like Candelabra) finally has something watchable. The show was directed/conceived by Christopher Guest and starring Chris O'Dowd alongside the repertory I refer to as the Guest Family Players.

I'll have to wait for Blu-ray since I'm a cord-cutter, but with the wealth of content they have on their hands, I sure wish HBO would go the $7.99-$9.99 route of Hulu Plus/Warner Archive and establish a beachhead against Netflix.

Odd trivia: the guy who set up my business account at the bank is from the same town in Ireland as O'Dowd and played (actual) football with him growing up.

"Behind the Candelabra" Trailer

The last one was more teaser-y fluff. This one has all the bells, rhinestones, and sequins on, ready for the ball. I anticipate having Soderberghopolis complete through Haywire by the time this one is on HBO on 26 May.

The thrust of this (accept the double entendre) focusing on the gravity of Liberace's all-consuming vanity makes it compelling and interesting. That studios all thought it "too gay" meant that they were worried they'd get in trouble with "the gays". I wonder if quite the opposite would have occurred, to great box office reward. Oh well, next time, Homophobe-wood!

Before you watch the trailer, share in my amazement at how completely unilke herself Debbie Reynolds looks below:

Marvel #1 "700 Issues" Promo Returns

After the first try crashed servers left and right, massively out-performing any single traffic day in their history by multiple orders of magnitude, ComiXology and Marvel are re-doing their Marvel #1 promo. Sign up before 11:59pm ET April 9th, watch your inbox for your invite starting on April 11th.

This rolling signup process will certainly ease the strain on their servers and ensure things go a great deal more smoothly. Get in there while you can.

Intel Doubles the Speed of Thunderbolt

Sarah Silbert from Engadget reports that Intel announced a new, updated version of Thunderbolt today that is capable of displaying 4K video in addition to transferring data simultaneously. It can do 20Gbps data transfer in both directions, doubling the previous top-end speed of 10Gbps. For the less tech-spec-inclined, the old Thunderbolt did around 50x the top theoretical speed of USB 2.0. Double that and that's how fast the new one is.

If you're a Mac user, you already know Thunderbolt is the ultra-fast alternative data port that makes Firewire and USB basically obsolete. If you're a Mac Pro user/enthusiast like me, you're hoping this is a sign of things to come late this year. What I'm more curious about is where it goes beyond computers.

If Apple is making a TV, they probably won't bother with "New Thunderbolt" unless they're starting out with Ultra HD resolution displays. This is another reason they may wait until 2014 to release such a TV, since that's when Thunderbolt "20" (or whatever they plan on calling it) will be available.

Looks like the new cables will be black instead of white, so maybe "Thunderbolt Black", like the AmEx card?

Les Blank

I'm done writing the year spans on these. It indicates finality I don't like with regard to the influence of people. That just like, my opinion, man.

What I love most about Les Blank's document-essay-aries is that they stand out so cleanly from the vast sea that is now the documentary field. Not just his subject matter, but his clean, hourlong-ish length of focus on those subjects leaves you with not too much, not too little to work with in your head. From the New York Times obit:

Mr. Blank trolled for subject matter on the American periphery, in cultural pockets where the tradition is long but the exposure limited. His films often have a geographic as well as cultural specificity, and food and music are often the featured elements. His musical subjects included norteño bands of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, Cajun fiddlers of Louisiana and polka enthusiasts from across the country.

He made anthropological movies. He made two of the best things ever made that have to do with Werner Herzog that were not actually made by Herzog: the short and sweet Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe and the classic Burden of Dreams, which follows the making of Fitzcarraldo, one of the most chaotic shoots this side of Apocalypse Now. There really haven't been many even remotely like him until now, and it isn't too likely there will be any hence.

Bordwell on "Room 237"

David Bordwell understands and appreciates what the multilayered and multifaceted Room 237 is trying to do with regard to how it approaches the diaspora of cinematic interpretation out in the world:

If at least some movies need interpreting, The Shining would seem to be a prime candidate. The film creates many questions about the reality of what we see and hear, and it seems to point toward regions larger than its central tale of terror. The director was one of the most ambitious filmmakers of the twentieth century, a film artist who could use a genre-based project like the famously puzzling 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) to convey ideas about the place of human history in the cosmos. Why couldn’t he do the same thing with a Stephen King horror novel?

Daily Grab 120: A Month Hasn't Gone By

One of Roger Ebert's favorite parts of Citizen Kane is this scene with Mr. Bernstein, according to a joint interview he did with Gene Siskel in 1996. The short monologue that is so memorable to so many:

"A fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn't think he'd remember. You take me. One day, back in 1896, I was crossing over to Jersey on the ferry, and as we pulled out, there was another ferry pulling in, and on it there was a girl waiting to get off. A white dress she had on. She was carrying a white parasol. I only saw her for one second. She didn't see me at all, but I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since that I haven't thought of that girl."


The New, Beautiful RogerEbert.com Leaks

I've seen this non-private but hidden link tweeted all over creation this morning (UPDATE: glad I got in before it got password-protected. see followup below). This is the cleanest, best-designed film review site on the web. Crisp, uncluttered, and just gorgeous. Wow.

Daily Grab 119: Are They Standing for Me?

Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles), in Citizen Kane:

"Are they standing for me?"

"Ask them to sit down, will you please?"

This sentiment, expressed by the better man C.F. Kane was in his youth, sums up everything I've heard about the man-of-the-people nobility of Roger Ebert, in work and life otherwise.